How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
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Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#2The article does not mention widely distributed Toxoplasma gondii, that actually changes the behaviour of hosts in the interests of parasites. Think you like cats? Think again!
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#3“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.”
― Dōgen
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#4The article does not mention widely distributed Toxoplasma gondii, that actually changes the behaviour of hosts in the interests of parasites. Think you like cats? Think again!
The article itself seems to be talking more about the perceived sense of self is, and how that might be affected by organisms that replace our existing organisms.
The title led me to believe it might be something more like the gondii situation mention.
There is perhaps an association between gondii and schizophrenia. Here is one meta analysis[1]
"The results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia have an increased prevalence of antibodies to T. gondii. This association is consistent with other epidemiological studies as well as with animal studies."
[1] http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/3...
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#5There are strong parallels between the personality concepts of self & other and the immune system.
If you take the metaphor far enough anything that exists separately from the cosmic background radiation has a means for separating itself from its surroundings for some period of time. This is true for things that are alive as well as things we don't usually assign identity to: a cereal box has a cardboard flap to keep cereal in and bugs out. A star has gravity and gas pressure in equilibrium to keep most of its mass inside a radius.
People who study consciousness (previously pure philosophers like david chalmers, increasingly mathematical physicists like max tegmark) are fascinated by this kind of thing.
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#6There are strong parallels between the personality concepts of self & other and the immune system. If you take the metaphor far enough anything that exists separately from the cosmic background radiation has a means for separating itself from its surroundings for some period of time. This is true for things that are alive as well as things we don't usually assign identity to: a cereal box has a cardboard flap to keep…
Indeed. I'd add to the mix Derek Parfit. "Reasons and Persons"[0], most famously calls into question the notion of the 'self' and how illusory it is. It has had a profoundly positive impact upon how I view myself, others and my relationship to them.
[0]http://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Persons-Derek-Parfit/dp/019824...
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#7It's not that hard. My self is the things that are under my immediate control. More abstractly, an object with an identity is something that behaves in a coordinated way (this lets you finesse the question of "what do you mean 'control'"). Self-hood is based on information, not gross physical properties and continuity. While not a panacea, this idea solves most or all of the conundrums in the article. Also, we have to get used to the idea that "selfhood" may be nested, and that DNA is an implementation detail, not anything fundamentally bound to selfhood.
Cases where the parasite modifies behavior at the highest level (neurology) remain tricky.
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#8There are strong parallels between the personality concepts of self & other and the immune system. If you take the metaphor far enough anything that exists separately from the cosmic background radiation has a means for separating itself from its surroundings for some period of time. This is true for things that are alive as well as things we don't usually assign identity to: a cereal box has a cardboard flap to keep…
I think consciousness is programed to first and foremost identify your skin to be your boundary (for survival). But then, when you train to master an external tool, like a bike, you feel the boundary of the whole system to be your boundary (for example: when you're able to manage the bike at incredbly flexible level, ie you control it at will).
Same for cognitive medium (like mathematics, we are able to think in term of mathematical concept to express ourselves better in daily life matter -> we have more freedom), so augmented human seems far future, but tools are augmenting us everywhere. (Augment = expand capability). And the limit of my tools are the limit of my world.
It's also true for other-regarding preference, if you identify someone (your kid) to be yours, you can take a cost for them. Or lovers, they self-interest the joy of each other.
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#9This article didn't touch on the idea of evolved dependence, which surprised me.
Essentially, parasites were inside the body of most human beings over our evolutionary history, up until the last 100 years. The parasites secrete immune-modifying molecules[1]. And because we don't have parasites as often anymore, autoimmune disorders have exploded in prevalence.
The thinking is that, in the same way that human beings and guinea pigs lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C because it was always available, some people lost the ability to regulate their immune system because parasites were just that pervasive. In other words, our ancestors lost genetic machinery that modulated their immune response because the parasites they had provided that service already. So losing those genes had no effect on their fitness.
It's not a widely accepted theory, but it certainly challenges the notion of self in relation to parasites.
Re: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
#10There are strong parallels between the personality concepts of self & other and the immune system. If you take the metaphor far enough anything that exists separately from the cosmic background radiation has a means for separating itself from its surroundings for some period of time. This is true for things that are alive as well as things we don't usually assign identity to: a cereal box has a cardboard flap to keep…
>If you take the metaphor far enough anything that exists separately from the cosmic background radiation has a means for separating itself from its surroundings for some period of time.
>A star has gravity and gas pressure in equilibrium to keep most of its mass inside a radius.
Although I think I see the contours of what you're getting at here, I would like some elaboration on these points. This statement is teleological, and if I was a pedant I would point out that the cereal box was designed while a star is what happens 'naturally' in a universe like ours.
However, I am not a pedant ;) so would you care to explain this metaphor and what it is supposed to 'mean' a bit further?